zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

I never thought I'd be doing this, but...

I was at Oshkosh last week and happened to sit down at lunch across from the Breitling sales guy. So, as an Omega fan, I put it to him directly: Why should I buy a Breitling? His answer was pretty lame: Breitling is the inventor of the chronograph.

I thought, So? (As a professional pilot, I have absolutely no use for a chronograph function; as for timing approaches, I simply rotate my wrist and check my sweep second hand. Duh!) But then he invited me to his display to see his watches and take home a "Chronolog" (their catalog).

Now, I've long considered their watches full of a lotta superfluous fluff (honestly, can anybody my age actually read the E6B bezel... even if he needs to?). However, the quartz B-1 model, with the digital UTC display, really does strike me as a nice watch (with not too much fluff; after all, I could use the chrono function to time my trips, I guess).

My questions: How might the Breitling B-1 compare to the X-33 in all terms? The prices of both are sobering, at least to me; after all, we're talking QUARTZ here. Also, I've heard that quartz movements may not be as long-lived as mechanical. Is this true? Seems to me a modern quartz that costs three thousand bucks outta last at least one human lifetime!

Again, I never thought I'd actually CONSIDER a Breitling, so somebody help me! Is the X-33 superior, perhaps, or not?

Thanks,
JB